Photo Credit Question

mangtarn · Sep 26, 2011

This question is for all of you photojournalists out there. I just recently started working (volunteering) for my university paper and my photo got ran the first time. however the credit was given to the wrong person (the artistic director's name instead). please don't blame me for my shameless self promotion but i really want to see my name being attached to my photo.
so what is a polite way to ask him to put the right name in next time? I am a junior photographer so i really don't want to offend the guy. put my name in the metadata perhaps?

PatrickJamesYu · Sep 26, 2011

I always think it's a good idea to present your yourself as a professional rather than an junior photographer.
You don't need them to think you're a professional photographer, just a professional person.

I wouldn't be too weak with your confrontation
I would be firm, and say that this is your picture, and you want credit.
For any future work, I want the proper name under the picture.

Something like that.

mangtarn · Sep 26, 2011

thank you for your reply :thumbup: , you've got great points and i will definitely be taking your advise when i email him

tirediron · Sep 26, 2011

mangtarn said:
thank you for your reply :thumbup: , you've got great points and i will definitely be taking your advise when i email him

Really? Why not try talking to him! It's rarely a bad thing to be remembered. This is a good chance to get your face known. Don't worry about being thought of as a self-promoter; wanting the correct credit is no difference than wanting to be paid correctly. Any journalist with any integrity will be a lot more bothered by the fact that he/she put the paper to bed with a mistake than you are.

Make sure that you insist that the correction is on the same page and prominence (above/below fold as appropriate) as the photo was run.

480sparky · Sep 26, 2011

If the university paper has any integrity, they will not be offended when an error is made. If they are truly professional, they will issue a Correction in the next available edition and be thankful you let them know.

imagemaker46 · Sep 26, 2011

I would just point out the error. If he's a decent person he'll apologize and make sure it doesn't happen again, this can happen during the layouts, names not being changed from one picture to another. If he is sticking his name under all the pictures, then there is a problem.

I've had it happen in major magazines more than once, even got into arguments and had to prove it was mine, back in the film days having the original negs helps. It was happened to every professional photographer, and I understand you being disappointed. Hopefully it is doesn't happen again.

KmH · Sep 26, 2011

mangtarn said:
This question is for all of you photojournalists out there. I just recently started working (volunteering) for my university paper and my photo got ran the first time. however the credit was given to the wrong person (the artistic director's name instead). please don't blame me for my shameless self promotion but i really want to see my name being attached to my photo.
so what is a polite way to ask him to put the right name in next time? I am a junior photographer so i really don't want to offend the guy. put my name in the metadata perhaps?

What country are you and the university in?

mangtarn · Sep 26, 2011

tirediron said:
Really? Why not try talking to him!

you are right about the being remembered part. i haven't talked to the guy since the day i signed up for the job which was last month so maybe i should refresh his memory on who i am

KmH said:
What country are you and the university in?

University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC.

KmH · Sep 26, 2011

Copyright law in Canada is not the same as copyright law in the US.

It may be that the university owns the copyright to any photos you make for them.

tirediron · Sep 26, 2011

KmH said:
Copyright law in Canada is not the same as copyright law in the US.

It may be that the university owns the copyright to any photos you make for them.

Because the OP is a volunteer, I don't think that is the case.

mangtarn · Sep 26, 2011

I went to talk to the editor today (thanks for the tip tirediron) and he was very apologetic and he promised to put a correction on the next issue, so this should no longer be a problem

KmH said:
It may be that the university owns the copyright to any photos you make for them.

Under my understanding, it doesn't matter who owns the copyright, the photographer should always be accredited properly since he was the one that produced the photo.

tirediron · Sep 26, 2011

mangtarn said:
I went to talk to the editor today (thanks for the tip tirediron) and he was very apologetic and he promised to put a correction on the next issue, so this should no longer be a problem

KmH said:

It may be that the university owns the copyright to any photos you make for them.

Click to expand...

Under my understanding, it doesn't matter who owns the copyright, the photographer should always be accredited properly since he was the one that produced the photo.

Good point; copyright really has nothing to do with this. Credit and copyright are two separate issues.

imagemaker46 · Sep 27, 2011

Photo credits are looked at as a courtesy by some editors/layout people. It drives me nuts when I see photos without a credit, especially if they are really good or really bad. In the past it was added in my contracts that if a photo credit wasn't added the fee was doubled, in several cases this was fine by the company that was using the images. The photos were used on cereal boxes and they didn't want my name added, which worked out really well financially. A photo credit is just another small bit of free advertising.